Mechanicsburg coach Kurt Forrest remembers the last game, an 8-0 victory over the visiting Hillclimbers in 1999, well because he was the starting quarterback. That was his senior year.
"The last time we played, we overcame the adversity of having a really bad quarterback," Forrest said Friday after a season-opening 27-3 victory against Kenton Ridge, "but our defense shut them out. Our defense played its tails off."
Mechanicsburg finished 7-4 and made the playoffs in 1999 for the first time. It has made 14 more appearances in the last 19 seasons.
Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer
Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer
Urbana finished 3-7 in 1999 but made the playoffs two years later and became a regular postseason participant. It made nine appearances between 2001 and 2013.
Urbana, which lost 62-7 to London in Week 1, and Mechanicsburg lead the five Champaign County schools with 15 playoff appearances.
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“Mechanicsburg and Urbana having the opportunity to play each other is really cool,” Forrest said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for (Urbana) coach (Carleton) Cotner. I worked for him at one point in time, and I know he’s going to run his program the right way. I’d like to think we do things the right way. Getting these teams together, these communities together, I think it’s a great thing.”
Forrest said the game came about because he and Cotner talked and decided it made sense.
“It’ll be a great day,” Forrest said. “It’s going to be a competitive ballgame. It’s good for both schools. We’re 10 miles apart. It wasn’t, ‘Why don’t we do it?’ It was, ‘Why aren’t we doing it?’ We got together and did, and hopefully we have a great ballgame and great crowd and a great experience for our young men.”
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